Title: 'Kaorin' OR 'One Life, One Meeting?'
Parts: 1/1
Author: 'A Gentleman Of Leisure'.
E-mail: <nemo1nemo@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
Summary: Mihama Chiyo has an unhappy encounter with an old
High School friend. Sequel to 'Sticks and Stones' [and preceding stories]
Story Type: Azumanga Daioh/BTVS
Rating overall: T (precautionary)
Spoilers: All AzuD series. All BTVS series.
Distribution/Archiving: Ask first please.
Disclaimer: No one here belongs to me - I've just borrowed them
to
play with. All other Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights duly acknowledged.
Thank you.
---------------------------------------------------------------
'Kaorin' OR 'One Life, One Meeting?'
by
A Gentleman Of Leisure.
---------------------------------------------------------------
"Ah!" said Chiyo. "Hi, Sakaki-san, it's me, Chiyo here. How was veterinary
college today?"
Chiyo paused to listen to her friend's reply, which was, as usual with
Sakaki, brief though friendly.
"Yes, I had a good day too," Chiyo continued, "at least up until
mid-afternoon. Then it all turned rather strange. I was just out shopping
in
central Tokyo for new clothes for the autumn weather in England, when I
bumped into another one of our old school friends. You'll never guess who
it
was!"
Chiyo didn't wait for her friend to reply, but charged right on.
"Listen Sakaki, you remember Kaorin, don't you? From High School. Aida
Kaori, the girl with the slanting hairstyle? You know, Inoue Chihiro's
friend. The two of them made that kawaii penguin costume for me to wear
one
Culture Fest. It was a little weird though, meeting her after all this
time,
because I hadn't seen her for ages, especially with her not having been
in
our class for the third year. I don't know if I caught her at a bad moment
or something, but she was acting a little peculiar..."
--------
"Ohayo gozaimasu! Aida Kaori? Kaorin? You remember me, don't you? Mihama
Chiyo. How are you?"
The other young woman looked at Chiyo, frowning, and then a polite, though
slightly distant smile appeared. It seemed to Chiyo that it was not
entirely
heartfelt.
"Oh? Oh, yes, of course I do, Mihama-san, er... Chiyo-chan, wasn't it? I'm
fine thank you. How are you? Didn't you go to Amerika to study? How has
that
been?"
"Oh, well I think 'interesting' would be the right word for it," replied
Chiyo, with a half-smile of her own, "and I certainly did learn a lot.
It's
a very dangerous place though. I'm not going back there next College year
-
I'm going to go and study in Britain instead. Their Universities are much
older, and have a far better reputation. Besides, it's a safer country to
live in..." Chiyo shuddered slightly here, "...much safer, I hope!"
Kaorin merely looked at her blankly and then said, "You were Sakaki-san's
best friend, weren't you? Do you ever hear from her?"
"Yes, of course I do," Chiyo replied politely, mildly disconcerted by the
other girl's rather obvious lack of interest in her life and doings in the
USA, and also by the abrupt change of subject. "And from all the others
too.
I tried to get in touch with you when I arrived home so I could get all
of
us together - unfortunately you were the only one I couldn't get hold of.
Your mother said you were away in Asahikawa. We were all very sorry to
have
missed you."
"Oh, that. Yes, it was for part of my Astronomy course. I had a chance to
visit one of our national telescopes up in Hokkaido - it's a good location
because the air is so much clearer up in the mountains. I just got back
yesterday. But have you seen Sakaki-san? How is she?"
"Oh, oh yes I have. All six of us got together here last week. It was very
difficult to find a time when everyone was free, but we all managed to get
a
couple of hours off to meet up at a restaurant near the lawyer's office
where Yomi works. Luckily it wasn't too far from Tomo's police residence
either. It was very much fun being with them all again!" Chiyo laughed out
loud at the memory of Tomo's sudden fall from grace - that superb pratfall
straight to the floor of the restaurant.
Kaorin suddenly went pale and wide-eyed.
"You mean S-Sakaki-san was here in Tokyo? And I didn't know?" To Chiyo she
seemed a little upset for some reason.
"Yes, we came down on the train from her veterinary college in the
morning.
It was a lovely day!"
"You... you came down together? How was that? Did you go up to see her
specially?" Kaorin suddenly appeared to be having difficulty with her
breathing.
Chiyo blushed slightly. "Yes," she said quietly. "I wanted to see her
especially. When I was over in Amerika, and feeling rather lonely and
tired,
I would e-mail or write to her, and she would always reply with words that
comforted me, and made me feel I was equally missed by all my friends. She
would speak for all of them, when they were too busy, or couldn't get
round
to sending me a letter or e-mail in reply."
"Did... did you stay with her?" said Kaorin, having trouble getting the
words out.
"Oh, yes," said Chiyo. "It's a long way to go just for an afternoon's
visit.
And anyway we had such a lot to talk about." She was hardly aware of her
one-time fellow pupil's trembling at her words. "I've been staying up
there
for a few days, but now I'm back to see my parents, and hopefully meet up
with the rest of the old gang again, before I set off for Britain. Will
you
be able to make it if I can arrange another date with the others?"
Kaorin suddenly came to life, startling Chiyo. "Yes, yes, of course I can.
Whenever you say. Wherever you like - anywhere, anywhere! I'd love to meet
up with the others again. You will make sure Sakaki-san is there, won't
you?
It's been such a long time!" she gabbled.
"I always thought it so unkind of Kimura to persuade Yukari-sensei to have
you transferred to his class. We did miss you, Kaorin."
Kaorin shuddered melodramatically at the memory. Then her face went almost
blank.
"You all got on without me alright, though, didn't you? Kagura-san was
always more one of you than I was."
"It wasn't the same, though," Chiyo tried to reassure her. "I remember
that
you and Chihiro were the first two people to ask me to eat lunch with
them.
I've never forgotten that, you know. I was feeling rather out of my depth
on
my first day in High School - everything was so strange and new to me, and
large! It was so kind of you both. Had you two known each other before
then?"
"Yes," said Kaorin, nodding. "We lived in the same neigbourhood, so we had
mutual friends, though we didn't go to the same Middle School. At least
she
has stayed in touch with me," she added, sounding perhaps a little
resentful
towards the others for having lost contact with her. Somehow this
registered
with Chiyo.
"Sometimes the others only kept in touch with each other via me," she told
Kaorin, "especially if they were working different hours, or on night
shifts
like Tomo, when she had late duty. I very occasionally used to get an
e-mail
in Amerika from her when she came off-shift at 8AM, here in Tokyo, and
because of the International Date Line it would still be the afternoon of
the previous day for me! That could be quite weird, a bit like getting a
message from the future.
"Anyway," she went on, "how is Chihiro? Last I heard she was dating one of
the boys from our class. Was that true?"
"Yes, she was," said Kaorin curtly. "It didn't last, though. He dumped her
and took up with someone he met at work". For a moment she gave the
impression of looking off over Chiyo's head into the middle distance. "Men
are such pigs!" she finished abruptly, glaring down at the younger girl
almost as if she thought it might have been Chiyo's fault.
"I... I'm so sorry to hear that. Will you tell her I asked after her? Do
give her my e-mail address, and then she can get in touch while I'm still
at
home here in Japan, before I go off to Britain."
Kaorin nodded. "I will. I'll be seeing her tonight," she said in a dull
voice.
"Really? That's amazing! What a wonderful coincidence," exclaimed Chiyo.
"Not really," Kaorin replied. "We're sharing a very small apartment at the
moment. It's all we can afford," she added a little unwillingly.
"Oh! Please!" she then exclaimed hastily, suddenly realising how that
might
have sounded. "I'm not trying to make a point about your family being so
very rich or... or anything! I'm so sorry - please accept my most sincere
humble apology!" and she rapidly bowed deeply several times to Chiyo, who
went quite pink and hot with embarassment. The subject of her family's
wealth was something she never even really thought about, never
deliberately
spoke of, and it had only very occasionally ever been made comment about
among her friends, usually only by Tomo when 'the genki girl' was being
her
most obnoxious.
"Kaorin! Please don't! There is nothing at all to apologise for. I never
even thought of that for one instant, I assure you!" Chiyo said quickly,
and
she put her hand out to grasp Kaorin's arm, something common for
Westerners
to do, but still slightly unusual among traditionally brought-up Japanese.
Kaorin suddenly went quite still, looking down at Chiyo's hand in silence
for a long moment until, feeling awkward, Chiyo made to let go. Kaorin
then
grasped Chiyo's hand with her own free one.
"Your hands are lucky," she said quietly, using a turn of phrase that
meant
'have had great good fortune'.
"How do you mean, Kaorin? I don't understand." It was yet another
strangely
disconcerting switch of direction in the conversation between the two for
Chiyo, who was, of course still five years behind in emotional
understanding
compared to all her older, and presumably more mature school friends.
"Your hands have been with Sakaki-san," said Kaorin. "They must have
touched
her hands, her clothes, her futon." Chiyo looked up at her, and to her
astonishment saw the other's eyes were swimming with tears. It was
suddenly
dreadfully obvious that the girl was terribly unhappy.
"I'm so sorry," Chiyo said helplessly.
"All of the above?" Kaorin asked, almost inaudibly.
Chiyo could only nod, biting her lip, her cheeks pink, her own sight
perhaps
a little less than clear.
Without another word, Kaorin snatched her hand free, turned and rushed
away
down the street, across the road despite the lights being against her, and
was lost in the crowd. When she was entirely out of sight, Chiyo finally
let
her breath out in a long drawn-out sigh.
-------
"Ah!" said Sakaki quietly. "So you think she guessed?"
Chiyo nodded, and though of course the older girl couldn't see her, she
heard the movement and understood.
"She was upset? I see," said Sakaki. "She must have felt so jealous of
you."
"Jealous? But why? I'm not sure I entirely understand what happened."
"Well, Chiyo-chan, koibito..." Sakaki paused, sounding uncertain how to
put
what she wanted to say. Chiyo waited politely.
"It's like this," said Sakaki after a moment or so, and Chiyo thought she
could detect a slight tremble in her voice. "There is something I have
never
mentioned to you, partly because I thought it unnecessary, and partly
because I wasn't sure I ought to, in fairness to her. I hope you won't
feel
angry with me when I tell you."
"Never!" Chiyo reassured her loyally, and heard Sakaki laugh gently on the
other end of the line, before she continued.
"Naturally, back in school you were much too young for her behaviour to
appear at all unusual, and nobody else really commented on it at the time,
but apparently Kaorin had a heavy schoolgirl crush on me almost right from
the start of our First Year. Unfortunately I had absolutely no idea - I
suppose I was simply much too wrapped-up in my own self-contained little
world for it to register. I know I was not very self-confident myself
then,
for the reasons you know all about, not that I would have been the least
bit
interested then anyway. Anyhow, I just didn't respond. Like I said, I
never
even noticed or realised it myself at the time.
"It's difficult to believe now, that I didn't even find out until long
after
we left school. I genuinely wasn't aware of what Kaorin's feelings about
me
had been until Kagura, of all people, asked me about it several months
after
we graduated. Somehow it just came up in conversation one evening, and...
Boom! It all came out!"
Sakaki paused, remembering her astonishment. Chiyo patiently remained
silent.
"I suppose I must sound a bit stupid," her friend continued eventually.
"It
was quite a shock at first - you could have knocked me down with a
feather.
I had absolutely no idea to begin with what she was talking about. For
some
reason it was not something I had ever imagined, especially not involving
myself, at any rate. However, once she told me, it started to make some
kind
of sense of a whole lot of weird little things that I hadn't really taken
too much notice of - like Kaorin's slightly embarrassing behaviour when I
ran that three legged race with her, for instance, and the folk dance, and
a
whole lot of other odd things. And she would always be hovering around
nearby, watching me, and yet hardly ever really joining in. And then, do
you
remember when she did finally come with us all to your summer home that
last
time, how she was always trying to take photographs of me?"
Chiyo heard her sigh.
"I do," she told Sakaki. "Kagura's no fool, is she, despite having been a
Bonkura. But what a shame. Poor Kaorin. I always liked her, but it was you
and I who became best of friends. As you say, I had no idea of the way she
felt either. I wish now I hadn't mentioned I'd been staying with you - I
hate hurting people."
"It's not your fault, little Chiyo-chan. You weren't to know. And there's
really nothing we can do about it now, except not mention it if either of
us
meet her again."
" I don't suppose she'll want to see or talk to either of us for a long,
long time. How sad."
"Well, at least she still seems to have a friend in Chihiro."
"Hm," said Chiyo thoughtfully. "Yes. Um..." she hesitated. "About that -
do
you suppose, perhaps...?"
"Ah!" said Sakaki, "who knows?" This was followed by a short period of
silence, then she said "Chiyo-chan?"
"Yes? Nani, daisuki?"
"Are you angry with me?"
"Angry? Why? For not telling me what Kagura told you?" Chiyo exclaimed,
genuinely surprised. "No, of course not. Never. Never! It was really no
business of mine, was it?"
She heard Sakaki give another muffled sigh, perhaps this time one of
relief,
before saying "You are worth your weight in gold, you know!"
Chiyo burst out laughing. "I'll check with my bank manager. You may even
be
underestimating me!"
It was at last Sakaki's turn to laugh. "I have no doubts on that score,"
she
said happily. "I really, really don't!"
-----------------------------------
END
12 & 14 to 18/9/2007
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